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"Challenging the Narrative: Documentary Film as Participatory Practice in Conflict Situations" by Cahal McLaughlin is a book that explores the use of participatory practices in documentary filmmaking in conflict settings. The book focuses on McLaughlin's own experiences in conflict areas such as the North of Ireland/Northern Ireland, Haiti, Brazil, and South Africa. McLaughlin emphasizes the importance of collaboration, inclusivity, trauma sensitivity, and efforts to mitigate power differentials in these projects. The book provides case studies of McLaughlin's methodology, highlighting the benefits for both filmmakers and participants. Overall, the book offers a valuable analysis of participatory practices in documentary filmmaking and their potential for political and social change. [Extracted from the article]

The 2010 Operational Concept for the Protection of Civilians (POC) has formalized the United Nations (UN) protection strategies into a three-tier structure: protection through dialogue and engagement (Tier 1), physical protection (Tier 2) and the establishment of a protective environment (Tier 3). Using a Naïve Bayes algorithm to classify 1,118 protection references in Security Council and General Assembly resolutions between 1990 and 2019, this article first systematically evaluates the impact of this policy. Has the three-tier approach shifted the traditional focus away from physical protection? Has the post-2010 period witnessed a surge in the prominence of holistic and long-term POC strategies? The findings reveal a notable increase in the frequency of protection mentions following the introduction of the Operational Concept. However, even in the final years of the observation period and in the context of five multi-dimensional peacekeeping operations, references to the physical protection cluster (Tier 2) outnumber mentions of Tiers 1 and 3. These findings hold policy relevance, as they stress the United Nations' difficulty in integrating the diverse protection approaches outlined in the three-tier structure of the Operational Concept into a cohesive strategy [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the differences in experiences between female and male police officers deployed in United Nations peacekeeping missions. In the last decade, the United Nations Police (UNPOL) have pushed to increase the percentage of female officers deployed to peacekeeping missions. These UNPOL officers are at the forefront of post-conflict police reform. Police reforms can have a serious impact on how females are treated in UNPOL and in the host nation. UNPOL officers face various challenges, including difficulties transitioning into a multicultural environment and the physical dangers they must circumvent in a peacekeeping mission. The differences between male and female officers are discussed to provide insight into the impact of the missions and the policy implications to improve the effectiveness and efficacy of the missions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peacekeeping has been used as a significanttool for the past six decades in solving crises that are dangerous to peace and security at the international level. Over the years the missions regarding peacekeeping have not only grown in size but have also seen an increase in complexity. A lot of personnel including police, military, civilians, and others deployed in United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world have reached unprecedented levels since the commencement of the latest millennium. When the peacekeeping missions began, they were largely governed by the body of principles that was unwritten and were more affected by the events people went through while working for decades rather than any specific statute. The conservation of global safety and tranquility was the main objective behind the formationof the United Nations. The main tool to achieve thisobjective is the process of peacekeeping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil-military cooperation (CIMIC) has officially emerged as a coordinated strategy between the United Nations peacekeeping missions and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to enable access to people in need of assistance in complex emergencies. However, this integrated approach raises serious concerns regarding the respect of traditional principles of humanitarian action: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. While some humanitarian NGOs are opposed to any form of collaboration with the military, others believe this cooperation is very important to enable access and provide aid to civilians in needs. Using the case study of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this article analyses the impact of the CIMIC integrated approach between the United Nations Peacekeeping and Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and humanitarian NGOs on the afore-mentioned principles of humanitarian action. It argues that most humanitarian NGOs that are operating in the Eastern DRC are opposed to the CIMIC’s integrated approach as it pushes them to violate the principles of neutrality, independence, and impartiality. Second, CIMIC increases the danger of humanitarian workers to be targeted by illegal armed groups. Third, despite their integrated approach, both MONUSCO and humanitarian actors have not been able to pacify the Eastern DRC, end the humanitarian needs of the population, or improve their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Unlike traumatic rupture of the spleen, which is the most common consequence of blunt abdominal trauma and is well documented in the literature, and unlike the atraumatic rupture of the spleen, which is less common but also well described, spontaneous rupture of the spleen in a patient with malaria is a rare complication, with a potentially fatal outcome. Case report. A soldier aged 46 years, was hospitalized, with the clinical picture of abdominal colic and diarrhea, previously treated for a primary attack of acute malaria. During hospitalization, deterioration of health condition occurred, with the development of a clinical picture of an acute abdomen due to spontaneous rupture of the spleen which was successfully resolved by splenectomy. Conclusion. Splenectomy is the method of choice for patients with unstable clinical presentation due to atraumatic rupture of the spleen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While International Relations scholarship has increasingly addressed questions of race, the literature on international organizations (IOs) has been slower to do so. In particular, it has neglected how race functions within IO workforces. Building on sociological theories of racialized organizations, we develop the concept of racialized IOs. Like domestic organizations, racialized IOs are characterized by enhanced or inhibited agency of racial groups, racialized distribution of resources, credentialing of whiteness, and decoupling of formal rules and informal practices along racial lines. However, there are also two important differences. First, since IOs rely on member states for resources, their secretariats need to accommodate powerful white-majority countries (macro-level pressures). Second, since IO workforces are diverse, their employees may bring a range of racial stereotypes that exist in their societies into their professional practice (micro-level pressures). Using the case of UN peacekeeping, we demonstrate how the four features of racialized organizations operate in light of these macro- and micro-level pressures. We show that locally hired peacekeeping staff face constraints on exercising agency; that non-white peacekeepers perform more dangerous jobs than their white counterparts; that whiteness serves as a proxy for desirable skills while non-white peacekeepers' knowledge is devalued; and that peacekeepers from white-majority countries receive special treatment or deviate from UN-wide procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UN peacekeeping operations rely on international cooperation to constitute competitive female peacekeepers. Meanwhile, Indonesia is an active contributor to global peace, yet its women peacekeepers dealt with linguistic challenges to participate in peacekeeping missions in French-speaking countries. This article investigates the exhaustive intellectual and physical performances of a policewoman from Banda Aceh to take part in the MINUSCA ( United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic) 2020-2021. This paper aims to illustrate the theory of feminism by using a descriptive qualitative analysis. In UN peacekeeping missions, having female peacekeepers is crucial for ensuring gender-balanced representation. This study describes how the determinism of the female gender through personal commitment, self-engagement, and motivation is as valuable as the male gender. The data are collected via recorded Zoom meetings. The findings revealed the components of French language proficiency for MINUSCA, learning activities, the Indonesian policewoman’s experiences in learning French, and French language teaching andlearning issues that needed to be addressed in Banda Aceh. In addition, this article underlines factual issues on the absence of an official French language academy in Banda Aceh. Addressing those issues will contribute to maximizing Indonesian human resources for global peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chin-Hao Huang's book, "Power and Restraint in China's Rise," challenges conventional narratives about China, ASEAN, and US strategy in Asia. Huang argues that China's use of coercive military power is variable and contingent, and that its restraint is closely tied to a strong ASEAN consensus. He also finds that times of Chinese restraint are not linked to US deterrence actions, but rather to the strength of ASEAN's response to China's actions. Huang's analysis offers new insights into the motivations and behavior of China as a strategic actor, highlighting the importance of regional consensus and norms. [Extracted from the article]

This article discusses the end of the Cold War in Southern Africa and its impact on the Apartheid Government's nuclear weapons program. The program was developed as a strategic deterrent against perceived communist threats in the region. However, with the changing political landscape, including the end of hostilities in Angola and the rise of progressive leaders like FW de Klerk, the program was deemed unnecessary and a burden. In 1989, de Klerk ordered the termination of the program and the dismantling of the nuclear arsenal. This decision, along with South Africa's subsequent commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, played a significant role in the country's transition to democracy and its emergence as a leader in promoting disarmament. [Extracted from the article]

China shows a growing commitment to peacemaking and peacekeeping overseas. Yet Chinese peace efforts have met considerable challenges across multiple conflict settings. This article seeks to understand the difficulties facing Chinese peacemaking and peacekeeping and asks how these experiences influence the future behaviour of Chinese actors towards peace and conflict issues. Previous scholarship has largely taken a state-centric perspective to explain China's engagement in peacemaking and peacekeeping. In contrast, this article harnesses an assemblage approach to reveal the diversity of Chinese actors and the significant role local actors and normative forms of power play in influencing China's broader peace efforts. In South Sudan, it finds that the political ideas advanced by warring factions and the legitimacy they placed on United Nations peacekeeping intervention, both undermined Chinese peacemaking and peacekeeping and held far-reaching effects for Chinese actors beyond the conflict. Consequently, these challenges in South Sudan pushed China's national oil company to adopt new risk management policies throughout its investments in conflict settings. The South Sudan experience also influenced China's foreign ministry by tempering its proactive approach to conflict resolution in other conflict-affected countries and to promote peacekeeper safety and support peacekeeping intelligence at the United Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, 2004–2017) was an unprecedented effort of Latin American peacekeeping. Nine countries contributed the majority of troops to the mission in which regional governments sought to handle a security crisis in their neighbourhood rather than leaving the lead to western countries. However, when the mission came to an end after thirteen years, peacekeeping faded from the regional and national security agendas, with the exception of Uruguay. How and why did MINUSTAH impact the region's current hesitation to engage in peace operations? To answer this question, the article draws on assemblage theory and uses data from policy documents, academic literature and previous research on peacekeeping in Latin America. I argue that contrary to what Latin America's current, limited peacekeeping engagement suggests, MINUSTAH produced significant changes in the region's political landscape. While these could have paved the way to greater involvement in peace operations, however, parallel developments shaped Latin American security policies and military planning at the expense of the region's future participation in UN peacekeeping. The article adds to existing scholarship by probing the conditions that drive the temporality of assemblages and provides a new perspective on Latin American peacekeeping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the evolution of intelligence in United Nations peacekeeping through a practice-based assemblage lens. We address a gap in the literature by transcending the focus on 'peacekeeping intelligence' as merely an evolving policy instrument. Instead, we employ an 'analytic of assemblage' that reveals the intrinsic ambiguity of both the concept of peacekeeping intelligence, and the related competing perspectives as well as forms of expertise among stakeholders. We select the United Nations Operation in the Congo (ONUC, 1960–1964), the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH, 2004–2017), and the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA, 2013–2023) as cases to reconstruct the historical evolution of intelligence within peacekeeping. Our analysis reveals profound tensions between efforts to transform intelligence for broader goals like the protection of civilians, on the one hand, and the persistent dominance of military knowledge and tactical priorities in its implementation, on the other. We convey the enduring predominance of military priorities shaping intelligence practices across spatio-temporal contexts, grounded in historical legacies of doctrinal developments, training and regional collaborations. The analysis thereby highlights the interplay between contingency and the influence of enduring power structures in shaping the evolving peacekeeping assemblage. This offers a perspective that links assemblage approaches with the analysis of not only emergence but also path dependency influenced by historical and geopolitical contexts and suggests that strengthening such analytical link holds wider potential for advancing contributions of assemblage approaches to critical security studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What shifts in the extent and patterns of China's blaming are observable at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)? This article employs automated content analysis to measure the frequency of blaming by China and other permanent UNSC member states based on a dataset of all speeches (19,623 overall) in the UNSC from January 1995 to May 2022. Furthermore, it uses qualitative text analysis and network analysis to examine the targets of blaming in three different case studies of UN security governance—UN peacekeeping in former Yugoslavia (1998–2008), the UN sanctions regime against North Korea (2007–2017) and the broader peace and security discourse at the UNSC (2008–2018). The study conceptualizes Chinese blaming as a previously unexamined discursive strategy of compulsory power with potential long‐term effects on shifts in productive power. However, the results indicate the absence of blaming‐related shifts in the discursive space of the UNSC: China's rhetoric in the UNSC, compared with other UNSC members, has remained restrained over time. Variance in blaming behaviour between actors and across bilateral and multilateral settings seems to depend on strategic considerations that assess how to exert power most effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil wars are complex in ways that challenge effective resolution. Civil war actors tend to be dynamic in nature and often splinter then coalesce over time potentially evolving into multiple dyads pitted against their government. Previous work has demonstrated that when multiple rebel factions emerge, civil wars tend to be longer in duration as satisfying multiple factions tends to be more challenging. However, governments may choose to pursue dyadic agreements hoping to end the conflict either through subsequent dyadic negotiations or through more targeted military tactics focusing intently on the remaining faction(s). This study suggests that which dyads will be excluded from the peace is predictable, but also seeks to better understand what happens to those excluded factions that hedge their bets to continue the fight. Propositions are tested on all civil war peace agreements between 1945-2013. Key findings indicate the importance of political power-sharing provision and third-party assistance in bringing excluded groups into the fold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The War That Doesn't Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo" by Jason K. Stearns provides a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Drawing on extensive research and interviews, Stearns challenges the prevailing narrative of inevitability and defeatism surrounding the conflict. He argues that the persistence of violence is driven by a complex interplay of factors, including the emergence of a "military bourgeoisie" for whom war has become a lifestyle, the normalization of violence, and the apathy of the international community. The book also examines the interests and motivations of various armed groups and the complicity of the international donor and peacebuilding community in perpetuating the conflict. Stearns concludes by highlighting the stories of individuals who are working towards a different kind of politics in the Congo. [Extracted from the article]

The text discusses two recent books that examine the rise of stabilization in UN peacekeeping and international interventions. The first book, "Stabilization and Human Security in UN Peace Operations" by Alexander Gilder, explores how UN peacekeeping can provide a holistic approach to ending armed conflicts and building peace. Gilder argues that while some peacekeeping practices align with a human security approach, the focus on stabilization and increased militarization often undermines this approach. The second book, "Stabilization as the New Normal in International Interventions: Low Expectations?" edited by Roberto Belloni and Francesco N. Moro, provides a broader analysis of stabilization across various actors and locations. The book highlights the negative implications of stabilization, such as its security-focused nature and retreat from human rights and democracy. Overall, both books offer critical appraisals of stabilization interventions and raise important questions about its effectiveness and future use. [Extracted from the article]

In contrast to much of the extant literature, the paper devises a composite security burden measure for the NATO alliance that accounts for three different contributions by allies to their collective security: namely, military expenditure (ME), foreign assistance, and UN peacekeeping spending. Generally, NATO defense burden sharing and free riding are judged solely based on ME even though foreign assistance and peacekeeping promote world prosperity, stabilize regimes, and quell conflicts that affect NATO's collective security. Our parametric tests for free riding apply a spatial-lag panel model, which addresses the interdependency issues, to a broader security-spending measure that accounts for allies' membership, contiguity, and inverse distance. In all spatial models, we uncover robust evidence of free riding where allies decrease their aggregate security spending in response to increases in the collective security spending of other allies. We apply a panel generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator to adjust for endogeneity concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that positive US-China relations enabled China in 2004 to diversify its strategy toward Haiti, a staunch supporter of Taiwan, by contributing its first-ever Formed Police Unit (FPU) to the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). The organizational readiness of the China Peacekeeping Police Training Center (CPPTC) also played a large role in shaping this development. With the contribution of its FPUs, China intended to influence Haiti and reset bilateral relations. However, the limited training capacity of CPPTC meant that China could only contribute one FPU at a time—even though contributing more FPUs would have strengthened its influence on Haiti even more. When US-China relations turned negative and Zhou Yongkang, the chief patron of the Chinese police, lost power in 2012, China terminated its participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines China’s increasing security interests in Africa. It seeks to understand the nature and scope of Chinese engagement in peace and security issues on the continent based on its engagement in international and domestic (African) politics. Through literature analysis and logical reasoning, the author intends to define the implications of China’s new role as a security provider. The paper is based on desk research using primary and secondary data and statistical and comparative analysis of official documents, academic research, and media sources. The methods include literature analysis, logical reasoning, statistical research, comparative analysis, and the inductive method to build general theorems. The paper analyses aspects of China’s security engagement on the African continent: its participation in the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, small arms exports, and Beijing’s sharing of technology with African partners. China’s engagement in Africa’s security helps to advance its vital economic and political interests, with limited impact on African security. Key lessons for African partners are offered. The last decades have seen an extraordinary increase in China’s economic and political ties with Africa. Security cooperation followed massive Chinese investments and thousands of Chinese nationals working on the continent. China’s security engagement in Africa protects Beijing’s interests regarding access to resources, markets, political influence, and social credibility. It has little to do with a benevolent will to help Africa deal with instability or economic underdevelopment. African partners must make necessary efforts to avoid further dependence on China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nepal is a poor, nonaligned, landlocked country surrounded by India and China that has had good relations with both Israel and the Arab states due in large part to a foreign policy conducted on the basis of Panchasheel, composed of five principles: (1) mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, (2) noninterference in each other's internal affairs, (3) respect for mutual equality, (4) nonaggression and peaceful settlements of disputes, and (5) cooperation for mutual benefit. This outlook has also motivated Nepal's participation in many United Nations peacekeeping operations. Originally the object of a rivalry between Egypt and Israel, Nepal has attracted the attention of a number of other Middle Eastern states, particularly those in the Arab Gulf region, as witnessed by increasing diplomatic interactions and transportation connections with Nepal and/or its officials especially in recent years, while Nepalis provide much-needed labor for many of those same countries. Despite numbers of cases of worker abuse in the Middle East, Nepali laborers there provide remittances essential for families dealing with difficult living conditions in Nepal as well as a source of foreign revenue for that country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how host-state consent affects the implementation of different sets of Protection of Civilians (POC) activities. Given the centrality of POC to UN peacekeeping, it is therefore important to understand the factors impacting its implementation. We argue that effectively conducting POC-activities – including supporting state capacity-building, human rights reporting, physical protection, and supporting dialogue – hinges on host-state consent. Based on an analysis of UNMISS and MINUSCA, this article provides support for our argument that the quality of host-state consent can significantly affect the implementation of UN peacekeepers' POC-activities, but shows that such impacts are not necessarily uniform across different sets of efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the shift in international approaches to civilian protection in the 1990s and 2000s, moving from a "top-down" approach to a more "bottom-up" approach. The authors highlight the importance of understanding and supporting civilian self-protection strategies in conflict settings. The article also discusses the challenges and complexities of civilian agency and protection, including the involvement of armed civilian groups and the need for a nuanced understanding of civilians' actions. The authors emphasize the need for further research and a design-based approach to studying civilian protective agency. [Extracted from the article]

The protection of civilians has moved from the periphery to the core of public perceptions of what UN peacekeeping is for. At the same time, the operational and tactical arts of civilian protection have become better developed, more sophisticated, and more widely known. This turn towards protection has improved UN peacekeeping and, more importantly, saved civilian lives. This piece shows that together, the essays in this collection suggest a need to think more holistically about by situating practices of UN peacekeeping along a broader continuum of practice comprising local actors, unarmed civilian protectors at one end, a more fulsome understanding of the role of UN police and national authorities in the middle, and – at the other end – difficult questions about humanitarian intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces a Special Issue on the Protection of Civilians (PoC) efforts in United Nations (UN) peacekeeping operations. The UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1265 in February 1999, laying the basis for PoC becoming a fundamental part of UN peacekeeping. On the 25th anniversary of this resolution, it's time to reflect on the various advances, achievements and challenges facing the UN's PoC agenda. This introduction to the Special Issue outlines the UN's three-tiered PoC approach: dialogue and engagement, physical protection, and creating a protective environment. Building on this foundation, the Special Issue explores diverse topics, including pre-deployment training, unarmed peacekeeping, host-state consent, military and police roles in protection, the use of force by troops, civilian protection sites in South Sudan, and the unintended effects of peacekeeping missions. Each article contributes insights across the three PoC tiers bringing together cutting edge insights from leading academics and practitioners in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining empirical examples from domestic counterinsurgency operations, with historical and primary field data in longitudinal cases of peacekeeping participation by the Indian troops, we develop a preliminary theory of troop reticence. We find that while there is significant learning around civilian protection on the part of Indian troops from internal counterinsurgency operations, there are also important operational differences. Problems with insubordination to international command, gaps in intelligence analysis, and ambiguity over the rules of engagement amidst host-state directed armed attacks on civilians, can make troops hesitant to execute the protection of civilians (PoC) mandate more robustly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study systematizes and analyzes the legal aspects of changes in the deployment of international peacekeeping forces over the past 50 years. The article deals with topical political and legal problems facing the peacekeeping activities of the United Nations (UN) and regional international organizations. These problems emanate from both natural institutional and artificially created factors. Overcoming the challenges ahead is possible only through the development of multilateral diplomacy, the aim of which is to achieve long-term and realizable agreements to resolve conflicts and establish lasting and sustainable peace. The study analyzes the role, effect, and potential of peacekeeping operations under the auspices of the UN and other regional international organizations to ensure international security as a timely response to legal and institutional challenges related to the interests of certain players in the world arena, where Russia and some countries in Europe and Asia have been affected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI) is widely regarded as having been a successful peacekeeping operation. However, UNOCI bequeathed a number of challenges to Côte d'Ivoire which represented 'unfinished business' on UNOCI's part. The continuing challenges are attributable in part to UNOCI's limited political leverage vis-à-vis the sovereign Ivorian authorities, the consequence of which was partial and/or inconsistent implementation by these authorities of reforms designed to safeguard peace and security in the former conflict-ridden country. The experience highlights the limits of the political leverage that a peacekeeping operation may wield vis-à-vis a host-state government as it endeavours to implement its peacekeeping mandate, especially as closure draws near. Political leverage rarely figures in analyses of peacekeeping operations, but given that peacekeeping performance is often evaluated in relation to the quality of the peace which prevails in a host state in the aftermath of a peacekeeping exit, the focus on political leverage adds an important factor of consideration to the evaluation exercise, in the case of Côte d'Ivoire and more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective instruments, such as UN peacekeeping or mediation, are a lens through which we can examine broader normative fault lines in the international order. They hold both practical and symbolic value. In the post-Cold War moment, these instruments started reflecting liberal values. They became concerned with balancing the rights of individuals and state sovereignty. These advances around "human protection" are now in question, with contestation perceived as emerging from non-Western powers. I contribute to the debates on the "pragmatic turn" within collective responses but contend that while the focus in current debates about the normative shift has become global fragmentation, the momentum for the de-prioritization of human protection within collective instruments comes from within the liberal order itself. Human protection is now a broadly shared and firmly entrenched norm, but to shield the norm from abuse, the collective international community progressively restricted any use of force to advance the norm within the instrument of UN peacekeeping. The co-optation of UN peacekeeping into counter-terrorism efforts and the introduction of stabilization mandates undermined the principled nature and moral authority of the instrument of peacekeeping itself. This, in turn, compromised the implementation of human protection. This development is now accelerated and exposed due to global fragmentation, influencing not just peacekeeping but also other adjacent activities, such as mediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes Chinese geopolitics from a Chinese perspective. Three characteristics of Chinese geopolitics are highlighted: internal orientation, the desire to rely on the neighboring environment, and the increasing global influence. China aims to establish good neighborly relations in order to overcome its decades-long hostility with Russia. There are territorial conflicts with various countries, but China seeks good neighborly relations without interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. China is strengthening its naval defense capabilities and has a growing global economic and political influence. China actively participates in UN peacekeeping missions and advocates for an international order in which the UN and international law play a central role. [Extracted from the article]

Private interests might occasionally influence the decisions of troop-providers when contributing to UN peacekeeping missions. However, the pursuit of private benefits impacts how the mandates of peacekeeping missions are fulfilled. Drawing upon the conflict-of-interest theory, I argue that the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations is compromised when troop-providers lack ideational commitment to the principles of UN peacekeeping. This article explores the impact of troop-providers' ideational commitment to UN peacekeeping on the duration of UN missions. To achieve this, a duration analysis is conducted over all completed and ongoing peacekeeping operations from April 1991 to December 2019. The results reveal that conflicting interests within peacekeeping operations lead to an increased time required for concluding UN missions. In essence, by establishing a connection between the raison d'^etre of troop-providers and the duration of missions, this article outlines significant policy implications for the United Nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While studies have investigated why states contribute personnel to peacekeeping operations, little consideration has been given to how domestic political factors influence state contributions. We argue that changes in executive power that involve a shift in the domestic source of leadership support cause fluctuations in troop deployments, leading to inconsistent contribution behavior. However, we argue that this effect is attenuated in more democratic states since greater overlaps in the preferences of domestic groups are present and political institutions exist to constrain major policy shifts. Analysis of state troop commitments to UN peacekeeping from 1991 to 2018 supports this argument. This research highlights the often overlooked role of domestic policy processes in peacekeeping contributions while moving beyond considering why some states contribute relatively more personnel to address variation within countries. The findings indicate that while democracies typically contribute fewer peacekeepers, they tend to be more consistent contributors in the face of leadership turnover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of writing this article was to show how disruptive technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, can be used in military operations. We also covered how the UN and other international organisations have begun to regulate this rapidly exploding field from a policy perspective. We presented some of the technologies that use AI and made suggestions for their general military application and how these technologies can be used in peacetime operations. Artificial intelligence and intelligent devices can also bring enormous benefits in the areas of command and control systems, reconnaissance and intelligence activities. We also presented issues and dilemmas related to developments in this direction, such as ethical, liability, security and information protection problems and dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Araucaria is the property of Araucaria-Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofia, Politica y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The South African Journal of Military Studies provides insights into various topics related to war, conflict, defense, and security. The articles in this issue cover a range of subjects, including cybersecurity awareness among military personnel in South Africa, the writing on the South African Border War by Colonel Jan Breytenbach, the changes in the South African Defense Industry, the counterterrorism partnership between the United States and Kenya, the South African Air Force's response to Soviet air defense systems in Angola, and the high treason cases of Afrikaner men during World War II. The journal also includes book reviews. [Extracted from the article]

This study falls under the scope of the recent debate around UN peacekeeping transitions and exit strategies and highlights a critical gap in understanding the design and conceptualization of these strategies, especially for the long run as post-conflict societies consolidate peace. Using Liberia and Sierra Leone as case studies, the research aims to remedy the empirical gap and shed light on the complexities of framing UN transitions and exit strategies. A central argument posited in this study is that effective management of the entanglement between peacekeeping and peacebuilding is pivotal for enduring success in transition processes. Key contextual elements influencing this management include early planning and initiation of peacebuilding, coordination and integration with local actors, and alignment of benchmarks and needs with all stakeholders before concluding missions. The study applies a social constructivist perspective to examine the different trajectories both Liberia and Sierra Leone have taken in managing their transitions. This article uses qualitative research methods with data drawn from primary and secondary sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Token Forces: How Tiny Troop Deployments Became Ubiquitous in UN Peacekeeping" by Katharina P. Coleman and Xiaojun Li explores the phenomenon of token troop contributions in international peace operations. The authors argue that token forces, defined as military deployments of less than 40 troops within larger coalitions, have become the dominant form of troop contributions in UN peace operations since the early 2000s. The book provides insights into the motivations of states to offer token forces and the interest of the United Nations in accepting such contributions. It also examines the diffusion of token participation and the reasons why UN coalition builders accept token forces despite potential impacts on mission effectiveness. The book includes a dataset on token forces and offers valuable facts and figures on the subject. While the analysis of norm diffusion could be stronger, the examination of UN coalition builders' reasoning is more convincing. Overall, the book provides essential insights into the motivations behind tiny troop deployments in peacekeeping and the dynamics between states and international organizations in this context. [Extracted from the article]

Many international organizations (IOs) provide assistance to governments through country offices or peacekeeping operations. Sometimes, government authorities in countries receiving IO services violate norms that underpin the IO's engagement. IO officials must then choose between confrontational and conciliatory responses. These responses are located on a spectrum that ranges from a firm and public response to silence and downplaying. How do IO officials decide on their response? Based on over 200 interviews with UN peacekeeping officials, we argue that the factors that shape their decision-making are found across three categories: individual, departmental, and positional. In terms of individual characteristics, previous experience, career security, and the length of service at a particular duty station matter. Regarding departmental factors, politicization of work, professional composition, and the type of interlocutors predispose departments to be supporters or critics of authorities in recipient countries. In terms of positional considerations, the place of a post or department in the IO hierarchy, relations with other IO entities, and the distance from the field play a role. While important in its own right, decision-making by civilian UN peacekeeping officials is informative about similar processes in other complex international bureaucracies that employ individuals from diverse backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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War and conflict are issues that happened in the past few years, they affect many sectors and the most one is the refugees of women and children. Therefore, this paper will examine Angelina Jolie's strategy for promoting women's involvement in peace negotiations. Transnational Advocacy Networking Theory has been chosen for this article. The method of qualitative and library research was chosen to collect various pertinent data, the data itself was obtained from Scopus, Google Scholar, and the speech video from YouTube. The data will be processed by Nvivo 12 application and divided into three data (Word Cloud, TreeMap, and Word Tree). Word Cloud data will show the most spoken words by Angelina Jolie in her speech, Tree Map data will display the frequency of words that bin used by Angelina Jolie to the lesser ones, and the Word Tree data will show the sentences that can be associated with the words Angelina Jolie uses frequently. The results indicate that Angelina Jolie as United Nations Ambassador of refuge uses her ability in entertainment and profile to leverage her lobbying for women's involvement in peace negotiations. Jolie also to be more directly involved in the field, stepped down as United Nations Ambassador and joined the private sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African-led Peace Support Operations (PSOs) were established to support the African peace and security architecture by developing integrated capacities for deployment in crises. However, since the deployment of the first African-led PSOs, there has also been the emergence of new types of African-led PSOs, such as the African Union Mission in Somalia; the Lake Chad Basin Commission Multinational Joint Task Force; the Joint Force for the Group of Five for the Sahel; the Southern African Development Community Mission in Mozambique; and the East African Community Force in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The paper examines why African-led PSOs have emerged, arguing that these operations have allowed for increased African agency and shaped the African peace and security space. The paper finds that African-led PSO reflects a more regional and local-specific response in a declining era of new United Nations peacekeeping operations but has also resulted in an overreliance on force to solve the continent's peace and security issues. Consequently, the paper arrives at a novel conceptualisation of African-led PSOs, positing that they represent generation three and a half of peacekeeping which focus on the effectiveness of force and the morality of using force to deal with insecurity and multifaceted crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the challenges and future of United Nations peacekeeping, with a focus on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It acknowledges the successes of peacekeeping operations in countries like Sierra Leone and Côte d'Ivoire, as well as the protection of civilians in conflict zones. The article also discusses the division within the international community, the worsening security situation, and the changing nature of conflict. It emphasizes the need for unity, digital transformation, regional cooperation, and a responsible transition process. The author, Bintou Keita, a long-time member of the United Nations, reflects on her three decades of work and expresses her ongoing commitment to the organization's mission. Keita emphasizes that the work of the UN is not yet finished and highlights the collective responsibility to continue striving for progress. The article provides a personal perspective on the importance of the UN's work and serves as a reminder of the ongoing efforts needed to address global challenges. [Extracted from the article]